William h



(No Model.)

W. H. STRATTON.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER. No. 316,581. Patented Apr. 28, 1885.

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WILLIAM H. STRATTON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO STEPHEN R. SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

FlRE-IEXTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,581, dated April 28, 1885.

Application filed June 9, i884. (No model.)

.To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. STRATTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fire-Extinguisher Sprinklers, of which the following is a full, clear, ,and exact description.

This invention relates to that class of autom matic fireextinguishing apparatus which is put up in factories and other buildings as a xture; and the principal object of the invention is to render more effective the distributer, so called, or sprinkler in diffusing the I 5 water within the space to be covered by it, both above and below it.

To this end the invention consists in a distributing-plate constructed with elevations my invention, in the several figures of which 3o like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sprinkler; Fig. 2, a vertical cross section, partly mutilated, in the plane of linet t, Fig. 1, the sprinkler being closed in Fig. 1 and opened or unsealed in Fig.

3 5 2. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are top plan or face views of three several forms of distributingplates; and Figs. 6, 7, and 8, sections thereof in the planes of lines u a, c c, and w w, respectively, of said figures. Figs. 9, 10, and 11 are top 4o plan or face views of three other forms of distributing-plates; and Figs. 12, 13, and 14, sections thereof in the planes of lines x x, y y, and z c, respectively, of said iigures. Fig. is an edge view of the plate shown in Figs. 5 and 8; and Fig, 16 is a top plan view of the distributing-plate of Figs. l and 2.

In order to discharge or direct the extinguishing-fluid upon the oor beneath the sprinkler, I form the distributing-plate c with 5o a number of slots, b. In Figs. 1, 4, and 16 these slots are radial and extended from the l sealing face or valve c to the rim. Instead of radial slots, there may be slots substantially tangential to the valve c, as in Fig. 3l, or they may be sections of spirals, as in Fig. 5, and overlapping, as indicated in said figure, and more fully shown in Fig. 15; or they may be concentric, as in Fig. 9; or, instead cf slots, I may use holes or perforations b, Figs. 10 and l1, at an incline to the plane of the plate or straight through the same, as shown, respectively,in said figures. Vith any such construction the water, in issuing from the nozzle d, strikes the plate and part of it escapes through said slots, perforations, or holes and wets the floor beneath it.

To arrest the tendency of the water to slip laterally from the plate, I prefer to use annular ridges or elevations e, one or more in nurnber, on the face of the plate, by which the 7c stream of water is broken up and alarger proportional quantity directed through said slots or openings, and I give to the rim of the plate an upward curvilinear turn, f, by which the water is directed upward and outward later- 7 5 ally from said plate to wet the ceiling. The lateral distribution of the water may be increased by dividing it into streams by notches g in the rinrtuinf, Figs. 4 and 7. The value of this slotting of the distributing-plate is 8o specially noticeable in those sprinklers which are set in inverted positions to discharge upward, the slots in such instance distributing the water more effectually upon the ceiling.

The distributer-plate is best connected with 8 5 the nozzle or sprinkler by means which will least obstruct and disturb the spray or stream, and hence I suspend my plate by pins 7L on opposite sides of the nozzle, which pins may be tapped in the plate or secured by nuts or 9o otherwise, they being of the smallest possible diameter consistent with strength. These pins are protected from deflection and damage by being inclosed in wells t', made with or on the nozzle. The heads of the pins, which may be round, square, or other shape, serve to regulate and sustain the plate in its position at the proper distance.

'Io exclude dust or dirt and to prevent corrosion, the top of the wells may be covered roo over or plugged or sealed, the wells serving to guide and steady the pins when the plate r ing the annular ridges or elevations 4e and vt in the plate a, and like slots (not shown) in vgard it as one of the best devices in use for or it may be squared, as indicated in dotted descends. The plates are held up against the nozzles by the separable yoke n, as set forth l in my Letters Patent No. 306,662, granted October 14, 1884, parts herein corresponding with like parts therein being similarly designated, o p being the yoke members, which have hooked ends q r to engage the hooks m of the nozzle, the said members engaging slots the plate j, and having shoulders w to receive the straining-bar y, and temperscrew z for holding the plate a scaled upon the mouth of the nozzle. I nd that the best results are obtained by giving the nozzle an unobstructed water-way 5 hence I make such way either slightly contracted, but with plane surfaces, as shown in Fig. 2, or its walls may be parallel throughout.

In most cases the seat or valve c of Figs. 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, ll, 12, and 13 will suffice, but in some cases the valve may be a teat of lead, c, as in Figs. 5 and 8, or a flat or ribbed or grooved disk, c, of soft metal, as in Fig. 14, to securely close the sprinkler. I also find that a dome-shaped piece, c, Figs. 2 and 16, when placed on the center of any of the plates havv slots or perforations b, produces a more perfect downward distribution of water. This. dome-shaped piece may be made of soft metal, so as to serve as the Valve, or the valve may be separate and placed upon it. The sprinkler is opened by a dangerously high temperature melting Ithe solder of the separable yoke, permitting, it to fall away from the nozzle, and permitting the plate a, by gravity or underthe pressure of the water, to de` scend to the limit of the length ofthe pins in the wells, said pins holding the plate in place beneath the issuing stream. Two or more suspending-pins may be used.

I do not limit my invention herein to the use of the separable sealing-yoke, although I re such purpose.

The deflecting-plate j may have its edge beveled, as shown in full lines, Figs. 1 and 2,

lines, Fig. 2, conformably with thefdirection in which it is desired to throw the large quantity of water.

The conformation of the active face of the distributing-plate ct may be variously modied, as clearly shown in the several views herein; but I deem it essential to good results in distributing the water to make it somewhat dishing or saucer-like, and broken or not b ridges e.A I

What I claim is- 1. In a sprinkler for automatic fire-extinguishers, the distributing-plate provided with the fixed central elevated sealing seat or valve, c, the openings b, extending through and through the said plate, and a circular ridge concentric with the valve, combined with a separable yoke, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the nozzle and its wells, of a distributing-plate and pins arranged in said Wells and connected with the plate to suspend it from the nozzle, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the nozzle, of a distributing-plate having openings from face -to back and elevations or ridges standing up from itsactive face and a dome-shaped raised piece or valve, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with anozzle, oi' a distributing-plate having concentric ridges or elevations on its active face and a terminal or rim ridge and openings from face to back and a dome-shaped raised piece or valve, and means to suspend the plate from the nozzle, substantially as described.

5. The combination, substantially as shown and described, with the nozzle having an unbroken water-way, a deflectingplate, and wells, of the distributingplate provided with openings from face to back anda dome-shaped raised piece or valve, pins in said wells and connecting the nozzle and plate, and a separable yoke engaging the nozzle and plate to seal the nozzle and to open it upon occasion of fire, substantially as described. Y

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of May, A. D. 1884.

WILLIAM H. STRATTON.

. Witnesses:

STEPHEN R. SMITH, GEO. A. Roor. 

